Date at the Cheese

I have a hard time saying no, so when my kid asks me if we can have a date day at the Cheese I'm all over it (As long as its the weekday and we avoid the hair-pulling insanity that is Chuck-E-Cheese on a weekend.)   We had a blast. And typically I'm not one for bragging but, we got some pretty sweet prizes.

Its nice to know thirty dollars can get you a half tank of gas or a roll of sweet tarts, a mini packet of nerds and a plastic orange car.

.... Awesome.

Ice cream date

My kid certainly got the Otwell ice cream gene. I love that he's down to be my frozen treat partner in crime. Rain or shine, this child believes any time is a good ice cream run time.

I I I ... I work out!

Please note the water cup in the holder. Hilarity. He went for like, 30 minutes. I was sure as hell  impressed.

Dabbling in sports ... hockey still wins.

We gave some different sports a go. Mixed martial arts. Soccer. He didn't like either one. In the end I guess this kid just bleeds hockey. Its all he wants to do. I asked him the other day if he would like to sign up for karate through school and his first response was "I still get to do hockey though, right?" Pretty much every Saturday afternoon and a evening or two during the week you can find us at the rink. Everyone keeps telling us how much natural talent he has. He's been bumped up another class and currently skates with kids in the 8-10ish range. He's skating backwards and learning to hockey stop now! Its pretty amazing to watch. I told Shaun the other day I'm certain the universe is spacing out our kids more than I ever had planned for because it knows what we're in for with this hockey stuff ... and its buying me time between the two so neither of us have to get a second job to pay for this fricken kid or sport!

Fall

• Like every year since Sully was born, we spent the day at the Harvest Festival at Underwood Farms and had a blast, even though it was hotter than the sun that day. Rode some tractors, shot some corn out of a cannon, ate crap that was really bad for us ... you know, the usual. 
• Sully had a Halloween parade that my sister, my mom and I all attended. Like every other 3 year old boy we know, he was Spiderman. No, seriously, his two other little besties were also Spiderman. 
• Halloween night we had a little bonfire at my moms house with a few friends, a few drinks and passed out candy. Funny story, my sister's best friend HATES Taylor Swift with a passion. I mean, she really has it out for that southern belle. So I thought it be hilarious to be waiting for her in a long blonde wig, dress and denim jacket with a guitar singing Taylor Swift songs. Pretty much, it was totally worth the $20 spent on that mermaid wig we chopped the hell out of. 
• Sully's school had a pumpkin contest. His was the only one painted that was actually done by the child. And of course I think it turned out fabulous and was totally the best even though a pumpkin, that clearly could not have been carved by a preschooler's skill level won.*coughcheaterscough*

Yaya & Uncle B tied the knot!

Drink.

Dance.

Laugh.

Repeat.

Yaya is my sister and the name Sully gave her as soon as he could talk! Cool huh? The wedding was at the Santa Barbara Zoo. Sully and his best buddy were the ring bearers. There were giraffes to feed, cute children break dancing, cake being thrown around and  a late night In and Out run in a party bus. There were dance offs, "swerving in the 'burbs", and great times with family & friends. Congrats you two!

Faking

You tried to get out of going to school today by faking sick.
You gave a pretty good show.
It made me laugh, because you're just like me, only ....
Like 5 years ahead of my game.
Shit.
I'm in trouble aren't I?
(Shhh .... secretly it makes me love you that much more.)
Nice try Buster. You can't con a con.
But nice try none-the-less.

He may be a vegetarian yet ...

Playing trains he unloads fruit, vegetables, milk and cows off the freights ...

"Mommy eat, you're hungry! Here's some apples and milk and broccoli and cows, so you need to eat. BUT NOT THE COWS!! You don't eat the cows! You just pet them."

Ah, a child after my own heart.

First kiss from a girl other than his Mommy

Sitting at the kitchen table after school eating a snack ....

"Oh! I forgot to tell you! Somebody tried to kiss me today!" ...
Hiding my laughter & surprise "Oh my goodness, who?!"
"Kristen. She tried to kiss me on my cheek."
"And then what did you do?"
"I went like this" ... (insert surprised open mouth frozen body look reenactment here)
"Did you run away?"
"Yes, I "run-ded" away because she's not a boy she's a guuuurl" ...
"And girls have cooties!"

I never thought I would be perpetuating the Cootie Legend to my own son, but you have to do what you have to do. All girl have cooties until you've graduated college, do you hear me?! A few days later when I told my sister the story she asked Sully if Kristen was pretty, and he blushed and smiled from ear to ear and sheepishly replied "Yes" then hid his face in a fit of giggles when we started laughing. Oh boy.

... Scratch that college thing, he's so not dating until he's 40.

On a funny side note Shaun just told me that this morning when I sent Sully upstairs to wake him up, the kiddo did so by punching his Daddy in the manhood (from a sound sleep mind you) and screaming "Its time to wake up PENIS!" .... 'Atta boy Sully!

Five Nights

Five nights.
Its been five nights now since you announced to us after seeing your friends big boy bed that you were sleeping in your "own room", in the "big bed", because you were in fact, a "big boy" now. We laughed. We nodded. We gave each other glances and smirks and said, "Aw, that is totally cute. Okay, we'll see you in an hour big guy!"

Only, we didn't.
And you did.

See, I've never forced you to do anything. I didn't force you to walk, to talk, to give up the bottle, or the pacifier, or potty train or sleep in your own bed. Hell, I don't even force you to apologize. (Do I want you to apologize? Of course! Do I make you? No. Does something worse usually happen when you won't? Almost always.) But I've always let you lead the way. I've never concerned myself with keeping up with where other kids are in regards to where you are. You are so unbelievably smart and kind and gifted and talented ... I guess I just always knew all these things would fall into place for you, when you were ready for them to, not for when I was.

Which is funny ... because for the past 3 years you've slept by my side or within my arms reach - and I ended up being the one not ready. In fact, I was totally shocked to be honest. The first night I didn't sleep at all figuring you would come back into our room at any minute. The second night I cried and blubbered to your Daddy when I realized you weren't coming back that night either. I incoherently rambled about you graduating in a mere fourteen years (Hi, My name is Steph and I'm a total whackjob) and strangers sneaking into our house at night and snatching you up - you know ... past the dead bolted metal door, dog, squeaky stair gate and your light sleeping father. It wasn't my finest hour. It was kind of downright embarrassing now that I think about it. The third night I laughed at how stupid crying & being upset seemed, especially when so many parents would beg to be in our position. Last night I peeked in on you before bed and smiled - you looked so small crumpled up in your big 'ol bed and a part of me wanted to curl up right beside you, but I didn't - and you know, I finally slept well that night. And tonight? Well I've finally abandoned all hope of you coming back and your toddler bed has now become a laundry holder until we take it apart.

I've realized something these past five nights ... it hasn't been so much about you sleeping in your own room as it has been about how suddenly independent you have become. Its a fierce and bold take no prisoners kind of confidence. Little boy, you declare something and you mean it. You set out to do something and you do it 110%. I know you never want to fail, but I think you're too damn stubborn to know how to fail. Its scary and amazing to me all at the same time. Its everything I've feared and hoped for in you. And its not just the confidence. You look different lately. You sound different. You feel different in my arms.

I want to pause time.
I waited so, so long for you and it seems down right unfair at how fast these years go by.
But I know there is no slowing you or time down at this point.
There is no going back.
You've shed the baby years. You've shed the toddler years.
We're knee high in little boy territory now.

And all it took was five nights.

(Excuse my non made-up face! Me & my big boy the morning after sleeping in his own bed)

Blarging

In no particular order .... 

• We are officially, completely, 100% potty trained! We have been accident free for months, he sleeps through the night wearing underwear only and will go to the bathroom with no prompts/reminders/accidents. Woo hoo!
• He's a busy boy these days .. .Hip-hop Dance lessons on Monday afternoons, Little Kings Hockey lessons Monday night and skating lessons Saturday mornings. 
• Our friends finally arrived from Japan. They leave on Sunday and have been staying with us the past three weeks, which Sully has loved!
• I turned 31! I had plans to write this blog about it but basically, 31 rocks. Age is just a number and more than anything, I feel settled and happy. I celebrated with a small group of family & friends at the pub and it was really nice, and slightly intoxicating.
• Sully thought a bird in his National Geographic book looked like his Yaya and had hair like her. I laughed for days.
• I'm planning to learn how to shoot a gun at the shooting range with Shaun (he already knows) you know - for when the zombies come. 
• Sully thought he wanted to be Captain America for Halloween but now he wants to be a Jedi. I'm pretty sure that's just because he gets to use his light saber then. 
• My new favorite drink is something I like to refer to as Adult Capri Suns. You just freeze those suckers, pop a straw in (you know if you're classy like me and forgo a glass) and you're set!
• We went to Pirate Days at the Ventura Harbor and had a lot of fun. Sully's favorite thing he STILL talks about a month later was the Pirate Rat and the giant climb slide. 
• Science 101 ... We saved a caterpillar from the 100+ heat a couple weeks back ... all his friends had been fried unfortunately. The next night he started building a cocoon and we waited nearly two weeks until he finally reemerged. Sully did the honor of letting his butterfly friend go free (We didn't have the heart to tell him it was a moth)
• I ordered The Adventures of Dragon for Sully. I found it at a used online book store - apparently its no longer in publication and was shipped all the way from the UK. I had this book when I was little and remember my dad reading it to me every night. I'm sure my original is somewhere still in my parent's attic .. but now he has his own, and he loves the book as much as I did - I still do!
• My sister's bridal shower was a success and I had a lot of fun throwing it for her with my best friends her best friends Jessica and Danielle. We did a Vegas retro theme. I couldn't have done it without them!
• We found a couple feral kittens at work in our office. Literally hiding between moving boxes. How random is that?! We found them a home, which was great because Shaun was none-too-pleased when I told him I was bringing them home. Bullet dodged. I wasn't going to keep them. Okay, yes, yes I was. 
• Shaun says I'm not allowed to do night time because I suck at it and always end up playing, laughing and talking to him instead. I simply tell him that's just not true. Until I was looking through my phone and realized I have A LOT of pictures of us making silly faces when I'm suppose to be in there putting him to sleep. My bad?
• Sully's favorite song is the Briggs "This is L.A." .... its a hockey song. Big surprise there. We're forced to fist pump. 
• Sully took some of his best school pictures yet. He's doing great in school. He sings songs in Spanish and English, knows numbers 1-100 (and can match up the correct  you numbers you shout out to him) ... he's writing his name, numbers and has started to show interest in writing letters other than his name. And he wants to know what EVERYTHING says. He's still not a huge fan of art but he does love anything that has to do with being outside. He has a little  group of friends he plays with and talks about everyday and our new thing is me honking to him as I leave and we scream at the top of our lungs "I LOVE YOU" and he waves at the play yard gate while I pull away. Pretty much I love his school.
• We had a great time at Sky High with our friends from Japan and our friend's and their kids. I had never been. Its this warehouse filled with trampolines. The walls are also trampolines and they have these foam pits the kids can jump into. It was like heaven for a parent of a kid who jumps on EVERYTHING ( I don't even want to talk about my coach and ottoman.)
• Speaking of moving boxes, my office is officially moving into our brand spanking new building in a couple weeks .. goodbye last summer of working in 90 degree heat. Yes, you heard me right. We have no AC in our current building which has been balls during this heat wave. 
• We made bridesmaid and bride yoga pants for my sister's wedding. Those B's (and no, the word I'm thinking of is not Bridesmaid's) used up all the D letters, so I was forced to spell out MATRON on my ass. Whatever - fine, I was a Matron and I rocked that shit.

The Big Ten

I've thought a long time about how I would put 10 years of marriage into words. And here is what I've been able to boil it down to ...

Every time I bend over to pick something up when he's around, he makes a fart noise with his mouth. I always tell him to stop, that it's not funny anymore. Each time he says the same thing, he'll stop the day I stop laughing when he does it. And I laugh. every. time. This has gone on for years. And its the thing I love the most about us - okay so maybe not the fart noises specifically - but that after being together for 12 years, we still refuse to take ourselves too seriously. Okay so that and the fact we leave most of our martial disputes up to a game of paper/scissor/rock. We've got this 2 out of 3 thing down baby! We've done some amazing things, traveled to some amazing places and had an amazing little boy. We may have traded pink futons, pickup trucks and ramen noodles for mortgage payments, family friendly vehicles (But NEVER a minivan apparently after the look you gave me when I said the new Nissan Quest's didn't "Look so bad") and sushi dinner dates ... but at the end of the day we're still the same us. Still laughing at the same stupid jokes and staying up way past our bedtimes, most nights. Okay so some nights. Alright so like once a month if Sully goes to sleep early enough.

You're a wonderful husband and an even better father. Believe me when I say you are everything the 22-year-old Shaun use to tell the 19-year-old Stephanie he dreamed and hoped he would be, except a jedi. I'm sorry but technology just hasn't advanced far enough yet love. Ten years ago I knew the future would be good, I just had no idea it could be this good. I'm proud that we never gave up on each other, that we've accomplished the things we said we were going to do and are living out the dreams we said we always would. And although I'm not a crier, thank you for always making me laugh until I cry - and loving the fact I'd rather spit fire than shed tears. That "Ten more minutes" actually means twenty, and never once losing your shit over it. For never being afraid to kick my ass in monopoly, trivial pursuit and most everything else and for putting our son to sleep every. single. night. so I can have a few minutes of peace. And that at 31 years old, I still hesitate before I bend down if your'e nearby. I can't wait to see what the next ten years has in mind for us. Thank you for an amazing first leg of this journey ...  and for learning to do your own laundry, even if you don't sort. I love you anyways, if not more. 

Memory Jars

This idea isn't mine. I most definitely stole it from someone else but loved the idea. 

I'm a memory box hoarder. 

I keep most things from every trip I've taken and shove them away into the numerous shoe/memory boxes that sit in my closet. I saw this idea for memory jars and loved it. I found a bunch of mason jars I had around the house, twine and muslin cloth left over from some other craft, and put all the kibbles from past memories into each of them and labeled it with some old worn brown paper. I don't have a picture of them all finished and together yet, but I love how they came out. It was free and took a couple hours, most of which was spent rummaging through all my boxes and putting things together. They've been really fun to display and almost everyone has noticed them and commented. So much better than being in my closet! 

Memory Jars

• Sully's Birth Day - His hospital bracelet, last ultrasound, confetti from his pirate theme baby shower and the invite, and the baby cap he came home in from the hospital.
• Our 2004 trip to the UK - Underground passes, pictures of the changing of the guard, Buckingham Place, London Bridge and others, plane ticket stubs, Edinburgh castle tickets, sand from the shore of Loch Ness
• Our 2008 trip to Ireland - Left over coins, sheep key chain from Dublin during a shopping trip, ticket stubs from our Guinness House tour, left over Irish stamps, bus pass from our trip to Howth, a Galway city tour flier, Cliff of Moher pass and some other randoms
• Our 2006 trip to Japan - Left over yen, notes from the students we met, photo booth pictures with our friends, paper Geisha girl from a little shop we stumbled into in a back alley walking around Koriyama
• Our 2010 Mexican Riviera Cruise - Our cabin key, plastic sword from our fruity drunky drinks on the top deck, pass from the boat tour we took in Cabo
• Sully's 1st Beach Trip - Sand, seashells and the clam shell we found at Sully's first beach trip 
• Our 2002 trip to New Orleans - Plane ticket (we flew through a hurricane and I was convinced we were going to die), a casino chip from Harrah's, coasters from the bar, the Ghost Tour free drink stub we went on (You drank and went to haunted houses!), the swamp tour guide we never got to go on (stupid West Nile) and pictures from our walks around town on Bourbon Street and the French Market 

Blarging

Counter clock wise ...

1. Swimming solo! We've been frequenting the pool often these days. Taken about a week apart. Went from not letting go of the side so swimming in the deep end. Woo go Sully!

2. Good morning lovey! Breakfast with my favorite little. Never tire of that face. Seriously. 

3. Breakfast with the fam for my mom's birthday at our fave breakfast joint, ready for school, riding a pony at "Summer Camp" at school, his train collection 

4. Obviously, I'm a very sensitive wife.

5. Beach Day with Yaya! I asked him to smile and that's what I got. Well don't we just think we're hilarious. Crap! He totally is and I totally laughed for hours after every time I looked at it.

6. Ice cream date on my birthday

7. What my sister gets for trying to ask me a serious question.

8. My sister's bridal shower, face-timing as the Kings won the Stanley Cup! (After losing almost every time we all frequented bars together to watch the games, we finally decided to split apart to break up the bad juju and it worked because they won! Yes, yes we legitimately believe that's the reason they won.), the random self pictures of Sully I love that pop up on my phone after he takes it, and my goalie man Sully makes me draw and draw and draw. Stop judging.

9. It ain't a party up in our house til someones underoos end up on their head.

10. Drawing a picture for Daddy, everyday is a great day to be a pirate, cooking in the dark (flash) and apparently the same self picture again, so obviously I must really love when he takes them of himself.

11. Hanging out in the bar watching the playoffs (Yeh, we're totally responsible parents. Don't let the milk fool you. This kid gets crazy drunk on the white juice and talks some serious smack talk during the game), tan lines and shoe shopping in Santa Barbara 

12. 4th of July fireworks on the cliff by our house on his Daddy's shoulders, a Dark Dance Party (We broke out the glow sticks and danced like maniacs in the dark to the Madagascar soundtrack), the best $2 spent all summer on a hand held ice cream maker critter and our fave place - the Santa Barbara zoo.

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Desire

"A person shows what he is 

by what he does with what he has."

"Real" hockey classes, with the real hockey coaches.

Other than our neighbor's son, who is the same age, they are the smallest guys out there.

Three years old up against 10, 11, 12 year olds.

They're holding their own just fine.

The coaches don't slow down or dumb down anything for them, even though its straight up Bad News Bears status out there.

Legit crash courses in life happening right now -

if you want it  bad enough you make it happen.

You pay attention.

You listen.

You play as a team. 

This is real work for him up against those big boys.

He's learning. He's trying.

He's the smallest.

He hasn't given up.

He comes off the ice the sweatiest ball of mess with the biggest smile plastered on his face.

I think these two littles are going to be forces to be reckoned with in the near future.

I'm extremely proud of how hard you work out there Sully.

That hard head of yours is serving you well. 

True to you, when you do something, you really do it.

And when you don't want to, you simply won't.

You've been that way, always. 

I don't think you know how to fail.

Stick with it, and when you look back on these days if you make it big, always remember these words of wisdom ...

"Mama needs a new sports car when she's 60!"

(The second frame, middle picture he's playing goalie. He was in heaven.)

Addiction to CAMP

I'm pretty sure my kid is hooked on camp.

As I speak his camping gears sits completely assembled in his play room. I actually had to take stuff out to fit it. His mini tent even has his sleeping bag inside of it and he had me pull out his camping chair. I was also instructed to make him a camp fire. He's lucky I'm crafty! I took a plastic bin, found some old Christmas lights with the switch box we weren't using and threw them inside and then taped construction paper cut into the shape of flames along the outside. He uses empty toilet paper rolls as his "fire logs."

He even "roasts" marshmallows on a tiny skewer and seriously tells us to mind the fire, that its hot and we need to blow on them before we eat them. The other night we turned every light in the house off except for his "fire" and I had folk music streaming from pandora and brought my own camp chair into the living room. It was kind of hilarious. 

He hasn't stopped asking me for nearly two weeks when we go camping next. I think I may just have to oblige.